Wednesday, 12 August 2009

Bangalore July 20, 2009 - Following a stellar performance at the International Schwimmfest in Darmstadt, Germany - the talented swimming duo of Virdhawal Khade and Sandeep Sejwal have made their official entry into the 2009 World Rankings (top 150).

Khade is currently World No. 107 in the 50m Butterfly event (in which he won a Gold medal in Germany) and Sejwal is World No. 142 in the 50m Breast-stroke (in which he won a Silver and broke his own National record in Germany).

The official entry into the rankings will embolden the young swimmers as they take on the best in the world at the FINA World Swimming Championships in Rome next week.

The Indian swimmers made their mark at the 1st Asian Youth Games held at the Singapore 2-6 July 2009. The swimmers had to be 17 years and below to be eligible for this meet (i.e. they should have been born on or after January 1st 1992).

17-year-old Aaron D'Souza was the star among the boys. He won one gold - 200m Freestyle (1:52.22sec) - and one bronze medal - 100m Freestyle (51:52sec).

Arhatha Magavi was the star among the girls. She won a silver in the 200m Butterfly (2:18.86sec). The 15-year-old from Bangalore showed that she has what it takes and with age on her side we are sure to see new standards set by her.

Both the swimmers train at the Basavangudi Aquatic Center, Bangalore under National Coach Pradeep Kumar.

This is also called the French Open of swimming. With the French becoming a dominant force in world swimming this meet attracted some of the top swimmers from around the world. Virdhawal Khade, Sandeep Sejwal and J. Agnishwar participated in the meet.

Highlights:

Virdhawal Khade’s best finish was 12th in the 100m Butterfly.

Sandeep Sejwal’s best finish was 6th in the 200m Breaststroke. He also made it to the finals of the 100m Breaststroke where he finished 7th. Sandeep broke the National record in the 50m Breaststroke clocking a time of 28.77sec. The previous record of 29.08sec was created by him at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games.

Virdhawal Khade, Sandeep Sejwal and J. Agnishwar participated in the meet. This was the last meet before the World Championships and hence they participated in limited events just to keep the momentum of racing.

Highlights:

Virdhawal Khade won a gold medal in the 50m Freestyle clocking a meet record time of 22.96sec. He also went on to win a silver medal in the 50m Butterfly clocking a time of 24.28sec.

Sandeep Sejwal won a silver medal in the 50m Breaststroke. He once again broke the National record clocking a time of 28.65sec.

The Indian swimming camp for the Asian Youth championship, scheduled to be held in Singapore from June 29, is in full swing at Bangalore and according to Chief National coach S. Pradeep Kumar, the Indian squad will strive to return home with a few medals.

“The meet is important for us as the swimmers would aim not only for medals but also for good qualifying times for the World Youth championship,” said the coach. The Swimming Federation of India will also send a team for the FINA World championship scheduled to be held in Rome next month.

Tuesday, 19 May 2009

Virdhawal Khade, Sandeep Sejwal and J. Agnishwar along with their coach Nihar Ameen left for Europe last week. They are scheduled to train and compete in the region in lead up to the World Swimming Championships at Rome, Italy in July this year.

A 35-member Indian swimming contingent, comprising 20 boys and 15 girls, will leave for South Africa on March 1 to train at the High Performance Training Centre in the University of Pretoria campus.

The squad will be accompanied by three coaches, including the chief National coach S. Pradeep Kumar. The South African training stint will last a month.

The swimmers have been training for the past 50 days at the SAI (South) Centre pool in Kengeri, near here, for the 2010 Commonwealth Games. As many as 78 swimmers were called for the camp, but only 61 reported. Many had to skip the camp due to exams.

Top swimmers, including Virdhawal Khade, Sandeep Sejwal and Rehan Poncha, however, preferred to train at their respective clubs after making a token appearance at the camp.

Beneficial

“It was not compulsory to attend the camp, but those who did have benefited from it,” said Pradeep. “The camp’s focus was mainly on physical conditioning. In South Africa, the swimmers would undergo further evaluation so that we can work on their specific needs before going into stroke correction and speed work,” added Pradeep.

The camp at SAI winds up on Saturday. Though the team had received the green signal, there was some anxiety about timely release of funds for the trip. Pradeep, however, confirmed on Friday that this has been made and the team is all set to leave as scheduled.

First time an Indian Breaststroke swimmer qualified for an Olympic Games. Sandeep Sejwal qualified in both the 100 and 200m Breaststroke.

First time an Indian swimmer swam three events at an Olympic Games. Virdhawal Khade swam the 50, 100 and 200m Freestyle.

First time an Indian swimmer swam under 50 sec in the 100m Freestyle and 1min 50sec in the 200m Freestyle. This was achieved by Virdhawal Khade at the Commonwealth Youth Games in Pune.

First time India won a gold medal at the Commonwealth Youth Games. Virdhawal Khade finished as the most decorated athlete of the games winning 3 Gold and 3 Silver medals. India got its highest tally - 3Gold, 3Silver and 1 Bronze.

First time two Indian swimmers - Virdhawal Khade and Sandeep Sejwal - broke into the top 150 of the FINA World rankings, that too in multiple events. Virdhawal Khade ended the year 2008 ranked no. 64 in the 50m Butterfly, no. 81 in the 100m Freestyle and no. 109 in the 50m Freestyle. Virdhawal is also the youngest in the top 100 in both the 50m Butterfly and the 100m Freestyle. Sandeep on the other hand ranked No. 97 in the 100m Breaststroke and no. 103 in the 200m Breaststroke. These are all the more creditable considering that it was the Olympic year where timings are considerably faster.

First time an Indian swimmer made it to the finals at the World Youth Swimming Championships. It was also the first time that India got on the points board at a swimming meet of this level. Virdhawal was the sole point earner as he finished 5th, 7th and 6th in the 50, 100 and 200m Freestyle. In each of these events he missed a medal by a hair's breadth.

India has finally made its presence felt on the world stage with some excellent performances. The year ahead is crucial as the swimmers prepare to make a mark at the 2010 Delhi Commonwealth Games and Asian Games.

The 2008 Senior National Swimming Championships was held at the Gachibowli swimming pool in Hyderabad from 5-10 November 2008. The swimmers conspicuous with their absence were - Virdhawal Khade, Sandeep Sejwal (both were catching up with their studies) and Shikha Tandon (who was forced to sit out due to an injury).

Rehan Poncha and Richa Mishra stamped their domination winning the title of the best male and female swimmers. They each won their respective five events.

Mandar Divase was the only swimmer to create National records - 800m Freestyle (8:31.61sec) and 1500m Freestyle (16:17.07sec).

The performances in general were good considering that this meet came at the end of a long and hard Olympic year.

Click here to get all the results (courtesy Pune District Amateur Aquatic Association).